‘Fukushima made us sick’: Two Navy veterans join federal lawsuit against the Tokyo Electric Power Company over nuclear power plant meltdown

Two U.S. Navy veterans are joining a federal lawsuit against the Tokyo Electric Power Company filed by fellow sailors who say the Japanese power company mislead them about potential dangers after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Quartermasters Jaime Plym and Maurice Enis are the latest two military service members to blame the nuclear power plant meltdown for making them sick.

The two say they were afflicted with multiple illnesses, including repeated cases of bronchitis, strange lumps and other ailments.

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Seeking damages: Quartermasters Jaime Plym and Maurice Enis are two of the military service members who blame the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown for making them sick

'I developed gynecological issues, and nobody understood it, and they just kept saying 'stress,' and my cycle just disappeared, and then it would come back so badly that they would put me in the emergency room,' said Plym

'I got a lump that popped up between my eyes, another lump in my jaw, and another lump on my thigh,' said Enis

‘I developed gynecological issues,
and nobody understood it, and they just kept saying 'stress,' and my
cycle just disappeared, and then it would come back so badly that they
would put me in the emergency room,’ Plym told CBS News. ‘Then it disappeared again.’

Enis told the news station that a lump appeared between his eyes, followed by another lump in his jaw and another lump in his thigh.

Plym and Enis were among 5,000 sailors on board the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in March 2011. Both quartermasters were in charge of plotting their ship's course.

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After Japan was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami that day, killing tens of thousands of people and ravaging the coastal power plant, the Navy ship operators diverted their vessel from South Korea to Japan to provide aid.

Their new mission was called Operation Tomodachi, which is the Japanese word for friend.

‘We had already been there rendering aid and giving supplies and stuff for maybe a couple days before we even heard something about a nuclear power plant,’ Plym said. ‘Then, we were like, “Oh, that put a new spin on everything.”’

‘We were told we were safe, and we didn't have nothing to worry about,’ Enis added.

Telltale signs: Smoke is seen coming from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture in northeastern Japan on March 21, 2011

Damage: An aerial view of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station is seen in Fukushima Prefecture in this photo taken by the Air Photo Service on March 20, 2011

For several days TEPCO told reporters and others in the vicinity that the Fukushima plant was under control, even though three nuclear reactors were melting down, and radioactive gases were being leaked.

The USS Reagan was stationed one to two miles from the shore.

One day, Enis underwent decontamination, she told CBS.

‘I get my boots checked. There's nothing wrong. I get my hands checked, and the Geiger meter just goes crazy,’ she said. ‘They told everybody to get back, get away from me. That just made me even more nervous and more scared.’

The two, who are now a couple living together in Florida, say they have completed their service with honorable discharges, but say exposure to radiation from Fukushima has given them ongoing ailments.

Plym and Enis recently joined a federal lawsuit filed in southern California against TEPCO brought by fellow sailors who accuse the company of giving out ‘false and misleading information’ about Fukushima while being ‘aware that the potential health risk was greater than its agents were reporting.’

Ill: A person who is believed to be have been contaminated with radiation, wrapped with a blanket, is carried to ambulance at a radiation treatment centre in Nihonmatsu city in Fukushima prefecture on March 13, 2011

Widespread: Japan battled a feared meltdown of two reactors at the quake-hit nuclear plant in March 2011 as the full horror of the disaster emerged on the ravaged northeast coast with thousands reported dead

More than 115 sailors seeking compensatory and punitive damages are signed up to be plaintiffs, according to U.S. attorney Paul Garner.

Plym and Enis are getting ready to participate in a New York symposium on the medical and ecological consequences of the nuclear accident on Monday, the earthquakes' second anniversary.

The event is being sponsored by the Helen Caldicott Foundation and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Members of the media wearing protective suits and masks are escorted by TEPCO employees as they visit near No. 4 reactor and it's foundation construction for storage of melted fuel rods at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power on March 6, 2013

Lasting effects: Plym and Enis are now a couple living together in Florida, say they have completed their service with honorable discharges, but say exposure to radiation from Fukushima has given them ongoing ailments